1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to lottery systems. More particularly, the invention relates to enhancing player interest in lottery systems through the use of awarding merchandising credits or vouchers for selected pays, rather than traditional monetary awards.
2. The Prior Art
Lotteries are attractive and lucrative revenue generating games for both private and public fund raising efforts. They work so well that in the United States that a majority of states now conduct state-sponsored lotteries which offer daily, weekly, and/or other periodic jackpots ranging from hundreds to millions of dollars. These lotteries provide a steady source of income for the state.
In a typical operation, a lottery is operated by a central authority with a government-licensed operator providing much of the equipment and support necessary to establish, market, and run the operation. Such a central authority typically maintains one or more centralized operations for receiving and processing lottery entries. The lottery tickets (game entries) are sold throughout a state's jurisdiction at remote authorized lottery outlets or terminals. Private lotteries are typically run in a similar manner, having different jurisdictional considerations.
The purchase of a lottery entry typically requires a visit to an authorized lottery outlet (e.g., in person, over the telephone, or via the Internet), where the process varies depending on the type of game to be played. In a typical Lotto-style lottery game, a player selects one or more numbers from a predefined set of numbers. In a “6/49” game, for example, six numbers are selected from 49 numbers. Each set of six numbers entered in a lottery drawing is referred to as an “entry.” The numbers of the entry may be selected by the purchaser or may be “auto-picked” where upon request by the purchaser a random number generator controlled by the lottery itself is used to select the numbers of the entry.
After placing a bet (making an entry), the lottery terminal typically prints a lottery ticket or receipt which lists each of the numbers of each entry selected by or picked for a player, with a game identifier (i.e., a game name and a date for the lottery drawing, but may be simply a unique numerical ID).
In a typical lottery drawing where a player has selected (as above) 6 numbers, awards will be made for matching 3, 4, 5, or 6 of the selected numbers with the lotteries numbers in the form of monetary awards. The amount of money won increases dramatically as more numbers are matched. An entry “loses” if fewer than three numbers of the entry match the numbers drawn in the lottery drawing.
While lotteries have enjoyed considerable success, many potential players are still discouraged from participating because the odds of winning are small. For example, in a typical 6/49 Lotto-style drawing where six numbers are picked randomly from a pool of forty-nine numbers, the odds of winning the grand prize is more than 13,000,000 to 1. These odds have created a negative image for many potential players, and are acting to discourage play and thereby decreasing potential revenues.
To combat this disincentive, lottery operators have tried secondary drawings (where losing tickets participate in one additional drawing for a lesser prize) as well as the traditional small awards associated with matching less than the full number of balls (in the above example, less than 6 balls). These have not proved popular with players, as the number of players has apparently not improved significantly using these improvements as compared to participation rates in basic lotteries.
In addition to the poor odds, players are completely passive in lottery systems. There is no action in playing or choosing prizes. This lack of interaction is a further demotivating factor.
There is a need for improved lottery awards, in terms of both frequency and flexibility, in order to provide incentives to a broader spectrum of potential players.